'Building a legacy': Ella Parker, Tallen Edwards proud parts of softball's growing diversity
The sport continues a slow march toward having more players of color.
Photo by Mark Duffel on Unsplash
OKLAHOMA CITY — Growing up in Oklahoma, Tallen Edwards didn't always see other softball players who looked like her.
The sport didn't have many Black players.
But Edwards, now the third baseman at Oklahoma State, found a few role models. Her sister, Trenity, who played college ball. Natasha Watley, the Olympian who played shortstop at UCLA. But no one was more inspirational to Edwards than Aleshia Ocasio, who had an All-American career at Florida.
"Just watching her," Edwards told me the other day before a Play Ball event at Douglass High School, "I just wanted to do everything that she did."
A few minutes later, I talked to Ella Parker, the big-hitting slugger at Oklahoma, and we had a similar conversation. Growing up in California, she hadn't always seen softball players who looked like her either, but she had still found role models.
Who did she look up to?
"Aleshia Ocasio," Parker said.
"Tallen said the same," I exclaimed.
"She was my absolute favorite," Parker said of Ocasio. "She's the reason that I wanted to play college softball."
Those conversations with Parker and Edwards struck me — these are two young women who grew up half a continent away from each other, and less than a decade ago when they went looking for role models in their favorite sport, there were so few in whom saw themselves that both became captivated by a player another half a continent away.
And yet, nowadays, Edwards and Parker are part of a rapidly diversifying sport. All you had to do was watch the Women's College World Series to see the evidence.
On this Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States and celebrating Black history and culture, Parker and Edwards are reminders of how far a sport near and dear to hearts in this state has come.
Look at their current teams, and you see diversity.
Over half of the 21 players on the OU roster who just won the national championship are players of color. That includes some of the biggest Sooner stars. Tiare Jennings. Jayda Coleman. Alyssa Brito. Rylie Boone. Alynah Torres. Cydney Sanders. And yes, Parker.
The OSU roster wasn't quite as diverse as OU's this past season — the Cowgirls had four players of color — and still, both squads reflected how the sport is changing.
The most recent College Sport Racial and Gender Report Card by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport indicates that minority players account for almost a third of Division-I softball players. During the 2022 season, they were 30.2% of all Division-I softball players.
It was the first time since the institute started doing the study in 2000 that the percentage of white players dropped below 70%.
A look at the percentages from the past 10 years:
2013: 78.1% white, 21.9% minority.
2014: 77.8%, 22.2%.
2015: 75.4%, 24.6%.
2016: 75.3%, 24.7%.
2017: 74.5%, 25.5%
2018: 73.1%, 26.9%
2019: 72.6%, 27.4%
2020: 71.4%, 28.6%
2021: 71.0%, 29.0%
2022: 69.8%, 30.2%
The march toward diversity has been slow. And yet, the sport looks vastly different than it did just 25 years ago. In 2000, over 80% of major-college softball players were white. That was the season OU won its first national title; the Sooners had just two players of color and only one who started, second baseman LaKisha Washington.
"I just love the way the sport is growing in diversity," Parker said. "I just feel so happy to be part of making the sport more diverse and ... being that person to look up to."
Both Parker and Edwards know they might already be role models for little girls now hoping to follow in their footsteps. It's something they don't take lightly.
"Being an African-American woman, I put that on every single day," Edwards said, "but I'm able to play at Oklahoma State and able to step on the field and I think about the little girls that look just like me and are able to look up to me.
"I was once that little girl."
Edwards said one of the coolest things about being at the WCWS a few weeks ago was seeing the diversity in the tournament. It wasn't just Black players. There were Latinas. Asian Americans. Native Americans. Pacific Islanders.
"It's just so diverse," Edwards said, "and it's crazy to see now compared to what it was."
But both Edwards and Parker were part of the Play Ball event, sponsored by the Rookie League Foundation of Oklahoma, because they believe they have a duty to help inspire little girls who look like them. Sure, being on the field and playing at college softball's highest levels does that, but they aren't willing to let their play do all the talking.
They want to share their message, too.
"It's all about just building a legacy," Parker said, "and giving back to my community and being that person that I had when I was little."
Even if that person was playing far away.
Both Parker and Edwards have crossed paths with Ocasio and gotten the chance to tell her how much she meant to them. It happened for Edwards when her sister was playing for Missouri, and the Tigers had a series against Ocasio and her Gators.
"And I was fan-girling so hard," Edwards said. "I was like, 'No way you're actually in front of me right now.'"
Parker wasn't quite so talkative.
"I was so excited, I couldn't say words," she said with a laugh. "I was just smiling. I couldn't breathe."
Here's hoping that the current generation of up-and-coming players have more options when they seek role models. Maybe they'll be closer than half a continent away. Maybe they'll be a Sooner or a Cowgirl.
I can highly recommend Ella Parker and Tallen Edwards.